Alliance Doubles Down in Support of Postal Service

(This article first appeared in the July/August 2020 issue of the American Postal Worker magazine)

In the last edition of this column, we reported on the tremendous work that members of A Grand Alliance had already put into supporting the public Postal Service during this extraordinary time of crisis. At that time, hundreds of thousands of postal customers had been rallied to sign petitions to Congress, urging them to Save the Post Office. Since then, postal workers and their allies in the Alliance rallied even more public support – bringing the number of petitions presented to Congress on June 23 to over 2 million!

In addition to their tremendous support in moving petitions, Alliance organizations contributed in other ways as well. The livestreaming event aired on social media during the petition delivery featured comments from a number of Alliance organizations. Labor was represented, including the presidents of the AFL-CIO, AFSCME, AFT and other postal unions. Community and civil rights groups like the NAACP, Public Citizen and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation took part in the stream and joined the D.C. caravan. The staff of Take on Wall Street, the financial reform campaign that champions postal banking as a needed service in this country, added their voices and joined caravans as well.

Other allies have helped by spreading the word about the situation facing the Postal Service. Ralph Nader, the leader of Alliance signatory The Center for the Study of Responsive Law, featured President Dimondstein on his radio show and podcast. Arlene Holt Baker, the former AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and board member of Alliance member Community Change, penned a column for agrandalliance.org, sharing the special role the Postal Service has played in her family.

The support of many Grand Alliance partners has been a testament to the important role the Postal Service has played for generations – especially in recent months. Postal workers know the power of working together and with the collective strength on their side, they should know they will never fight alone to Save the Public Postal Service.

Privatizers See “Opportunity” in the Pandemic

While the country continues grappling with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, some are seeing the deadly virus as an opportunity to turn a quick buck. A number of private-sector companies tied to the school privatization movement are cashing in as the pandemic shuttered schools – telling their investors it is a great time to move forward with initiatives that would bust teachers’ unions and defund public education.

The CEO of K12 Inc., an online education company with close ties to conservative organizations such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), said on an investors’ call in late April that there is an “upside of the pandemic on our business.”

K12’s president of academics, policy and schools, Kevin P. Chavous, was named a Commissioner to the National Coronavirus Recovery Commission, a project of the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank.

Outside the world of academics, there are other privatesector investors who are seeing dollar signs in the midst of the pandemic. The town of Chester, PA – a suburb of Philadelphia – is facing tremendous budget pressure because of the economic impact of the pandemic, like many other municipalities and state governments. In a recent letter to residents, Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland wrote that there is “a path to financial stability on the horizon.” Kirkland’s solution includes selling the city’s water reservoir to private investors. Privatized water utilities charge users on average 59 percent more than publiclymanaged utilities and provide only a modest, one-time boost to municipal budgets. The equitable solution for the state and municipal government budget shortfalls should be federal financial support – like what is included in the HEROES Act – with increased taxes on corporations and the 1 percent.

These briefs and others on privatization and the impact of COVID-19 on public services and goods were made possible by the work of Alliance organization In the Public Interest. Visit their site at inthepublicinterest.org.

A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service is a broad coalition of national, state and local organizations including the NAACP, Vote Vets, Jobs with Justice, National Council of Churches and Rainbow PUSH. These groups have come together to take a stand against the unprecedented assaults on the Postal Service including efforts to dismantle and privatize it. To join A Grand Alliance, visit www.AGrandAlliance.org.